Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-03-13-Speech-3-340"
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".
Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to begin by thanking my fellow members of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, who, especially during the debate and then with countless amendments, have helped to improve this report and, I believe, to finalise a text which I hope will please both the Committee and this House.
With regard to the strategy for introducing a consolidated tax base for the Europe-wide activities of companies, the report welcomes the Commission’s decision and proposes the adoption of the Home State Taxation principle, at least temporarily, pending the introduction of the consolidated base. It confirms that determining the rates and levels of taxation should be left to the individual countries.
In conclusion, as regards the legal instruments to use, I welcome the effort to introduce soft legislation and therefore self-regulation by the Member States. Lastly, I should like to highlight the principle of Parliamentary codecision in taxation matters and the change to qualified-majority voting for administrative aspects, but not for the definition of rates and the tax base. As the rapporteur, I support the two amendments.
The report gives a generally favourable verdict on two Commission communications: one on fiscal policy strategies, and one on a strategy for a consolidated tax base for Europe-wide companies. The verdict is generally favourable as regards the identification of their general objectives and the instruments that can be used to achieve them.
The first part of the report stresses that the constant growth of the tax burden over the last twenty years – something that has only slowed down slightly and has not stopped completely in the last couple of years – may well be one of the reasons for the poor growth in the European Union.
By stressing that a certain level of tax competition might be inevitable and might help to reduce tax pressure, the Commission communications appropriately recognise that it has a useful role in the context of rules preventing improper conduct. The report takes up the principle of tax competition and emphasises it, pointing out that it is compatible – as the experience of recent years has shown – with constant coordination of fiscal regulations aimed at eliminating barriers to the internal market. Tax competition is compatible with the completion of the internal market, which does not imply the absolute levelling-out of competitive conditions, and tax competition is just one of the many variables that determine the competitive regime within each country and between different countries.
Tax competition, as has been pointed out by the Nobel prize-winner, Robert Mundell, one of the recognised fathers of the single currency, does not run counter even to the introduction of the euro. Moreover, in connection with tax competition, it should be reiterated that in reality there is no sign of any ‘race to the bottom’, that fall in tax revenue that many often dread, fearing that there might be a shortfall in the resources needed by the State. We have seen that, in a situation of tax competition, taxation has in fact continued to grow in the European Union over the last couple of decades.
We are concerned about the tax burden on work – and the report bears this out; but there is no proof and it is not rational to think that this might be a consequence of a reduction in the tax burden on capital: there is no sign of this in the data we have before us.
I shall now pass on to other points, Mr President, Commissioner. As regards VAT, the report stresses the need to set up a system that applies in full the country-of-origin principle – prioritising the definitive system – on which the Commission documents are, in our view, still evasive. This objective is specified but the timescales and procedures for introducing the country-of-origin regime are not given. The report welcomes certain suggestions for improving the current system, but the introduction of a definitive system is called for.
As regards excise duties, particularly on alcohol and tobacco, the report reiterates Parliament’s position as already expressed in the Katiforis report. Then in relation to environmental protection, not only is the ‘polluter pays’ principle recognised, but also the fact that taxation is not the only way of implementing this principle. As regards energy taxation, I must stress that, in actual fact, the current competitive distortions and asymmetries in the energy market make it inappropriate now, at least, to propose tax harmonisation for energy products.
On the subject of direct taxes, Commissioner, the report hopes that progress towards full implementation of the measures contained in the tax package will be completed as soon as possible and, in particular, that any rules discriminating between residents and non-residents, which leave loopholes for fraud and are incompatible with the single market, will be removed."@en1
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